Joists are commonly used in the construction industry to span a distance and provide a surface for a floor, roof or the like. Joists can be comprised of a variety of materials including wood and metal. Metal joists are commonly used in a variety of construction styles as they can be manufactured economically and are light, strong and durable.
Metal joists are commonly fashioned from a piece of sheet metal that is cold formed to desired specifications. Cold forming involves working a material below its recrystallization temperature. Generally, cold forming occurs at the ambient temperature of the work environment. The resultant cold formed material is stronger due to manipulations that have been made to the crystal structure of the material. Cold forming is an economical manufacturing process as it does not require the significant energy input required to raise the material above its recrystallization temperature. Cold forming has the further advantage of providing steel structural components that have increased yield capacity in comparison to steel structural components that have not been cold formed.
Prefabricated metal joists are well-known in the construction industry. However, there is a distinct lack of metal joists that have been designed that can be assembled from a series of differently sized interchangeable parts, such that a metal joist can be adapted to the requirements of any specific application.
Therefore, there is need for a prefabricated metal joist for use in composite and non-composite applications that is light, strong, durable and economically manufactured and can be readily modified depending on the needs of various applications.